Most Unlikely Places You've Found FRC People

[BL0X3R]

The oregon zoo

My sister was wearing a skunkworks tee shirt, and the other guy was from Phred

[白巨人]

Dunno if this is what you're looking for, but I ran into one of my team's mentors while finding a place to sit at a Bernie Sanders rally. Mostly unlikely because I thought he was a conservative.

[OZ_341]

Two cool ones here:

1- A TSA agent that was checking our team at the Philly airport on the way to St. Louis in 2013. He was on a now retired FIRST team in Philly as a kid. He recognized our team logo and we talked for as long as you possibly can talk while going through security.

2- Ran into a MOE mentor while touring the Ancient Roman Baths in Bath, England in the summer of 2008.

[Spen-curr]

I've found a surprising number at music events. At the Marrowstone Music Festival, a big symphony gathering at Western Washington University, I met three. We're everywhere.

[mathking]

Originally Posted by TheBoulderite

I have a question for you all. What has been the most unlikely place you've found a current or previous FRC student or mentor?

I found another student once at a Cross Country meet because she was wearing a team shirt. I must say, I was surprised. I should start wearing my team shirt around more often.

I think every time I have worn a robotics t-shirt while coaching at a cross country meet I have had at least one person from another team come over to say hi. Our FRC team has a lot of XC and track athletes because I coach all three sports. Not sure why there seem to be so many crossover athletes on other teams but there do seem to be. One year at Crossroads some of my kids almost pulled off having an informal race. They found four other FRC teams with enough runners to make a full cross country team.

I often where an FRC polo shirt when I fly, because more often than not I make a connection with someone along the way who is involved in FRC. On one flight the woman sitting next to me and I talked for about two hours about sensor integration and how to find good human players.

[cxcad]

Originally Posted by asid61

A few years ago, my brother was traveling to a Boy Scouts camp (Northern Tier) in Michigan. At the airport there, he met somebody who apparently knew who I was from CD and told him that I made cool swerve drives.

It's in Minnesota. Lol that was me

[planetbrilliant]

At my old job at a grocery store near me, someone came through my lane wearing a 1501 t-shirt that she apparently got from a family member? (Huntington is relatively close to Fort Wayne, but it was still a tad surprising)

[AlexD744]

While it wasn't unusual for me to meet FRC people at MIT (or see people wearing team shirts), it was very odd when I saw a kid wearing a sweatshirt from my team in Florida. Mainly because we haven't had another student at from my school at MIT in decades, it was ~10-11pm coming off the subway station (so not a tour or anything like that) and I didn't recognize the person at all.

Turns out he was a 79 alum. 79 and 744 have always had a good relationship and I guess he traded with someone.

[Phoenix Spud]

The grocery store.

There was a random kid I didn't recognise who had an FRC game pin on their school blazer. It might seem "normal" to some, but when there were no teams on the continent 7 years earlier, it's pretty cool!

[philso]

The opera.
Several years ago, the parents of the Team Captain of one of the local team sat in the row in front of us. I think they were also mentors to that team. Last night, the coach for an FLL team was sitting next to us. I had just met her at the FLL Kickoff the previous Saturday.

A cruise ship.
Last December, I met the head mentors (husband and wife) of a Dallas area FRC team on the first day, before we had even left the dock. We met up a few times more over the next few days. Their team were finalists at the Lone Star Regional this year.

[araniaraniratul]

Bathroom at Istanbul airport

[Chas4739]

Originally Posted by logank013

An old one: On the way to a competition (I don't remember which one), we stopped at a rest stop with many restraints in it. We ran into a lot of members from 1501 there.

Yesterday: I was wearing a 234 shirt and went to my orthodontist appointment. As I was leaving, a lady told me "good luck this year in robotics".

I remember the rest stop!! On our way down to NC this year right?

[logank013]

Originally Posted by Chas4739

I remember the rest stop!! On our way down to NC this year right?

That's right! It was on the way to NC! I don't remember what state the stop was in but what were the odds of us meeting at the same rest stop for lunch at the same time on such a long trip? Thanks for remembering that. Good times.

Edit:

Originally Posted by logank013

An old one: On the way to a competition (I don't remember which one), we stopped at a rest stop with many restaurants in it. We ran into a lot of members from 1501 there.

Pardon my misspell from my previous post. I usually catch such an obvious English mistake before posting.

[tindleroot]

A few years ago my high school jazz band went to the jazz festival hosted by Rolling Meadows High School. Not knowing the school had an FRC team, walking towards our homeroom for the day I passed by a blue banner hanging up. Thinking, "Oh! They have a team!", I saw another dozen banners before realizing exactly which team it was...

Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet anyone from 111 that day.

[inabilityness]

I was wearing a Robostangs shirt to driver's ed and it got recognized.

And when I was flying to a wedding I was wearing my team shirt, a TSA agent knew us!